GERRIT VAN DIJK - Gerrit van Dijk was here

12.12.2009 - 07.03.2010

The series Zeek (2005 - .. ) by the Haarlem artist Gerrit van Dijk (1938, Uden) was presented in De Hallen Haarlem. For the past five years Van Dijk, internationally known for his animated films, has been photographing himself while going to the lavatory. A selection from these thousands of photos was projected chronologically in the Cabinet of De Hallen Haarlem.

Gerrit van Dijk studied at the Academy for Art and Architecture in Tilburg and began his career as a painter. During the 1970s he stepped over to animated films, where he operates at the interface between painting and animation. He made the film Frieze Frame for the Frans Hals Museum, in which he stirred 39 paintings from their collection to life and had them overflow into one another. He has received various international awards for this and his other animated films, including the Golden Bear and the Golden Calf.

While travelling in 2005 he began to photograph himself while going to the lavatory. Using a normal camera, and without a tripod, he photographs himself with a time release. A sink, windowsill or ledge sometimes serves as to elevate the camera. The image is always pretty much the same: Van Dijk always wears a black suit and black hat; the photos are always taken from the back. Because of the seriality of the photos, which is also characteristic for animation frames, the details in them catch the eye more. For instance there are differences in the lighting, and the interiors vary from café to office, or from an aeroplane to someone's home. Van Dijk makes an everyday act into a special moment – the subject of a vacation snapshot, as it were. The captions inform the viewer of which places the animator has already set off for in his career during the period 2005-2009.